CREATE Salon: ‘Interfaces for reusing historical research data’

This CREATE salon follows up on its previous edition in February on citizen science, but focuses on a different aspect of public engagement with digital history: the reuse of historical datasets. Ideally, research data are neatly deposited for reuse before a project ends. And increasingly, historical research data are available online in all shapes and sizes. But availability does not automatically equal accessibility. Who are the (potential) re-users of historical data sets, in a spectrum that can range from (historical) scholars with specialist digital skills to a broader, general audience? What are effective ways of presenting and communicating historical datasets and how can we invite interaction with the intended audience, for example in designing interfaces or offering tools? To what extent is making research data widely accessible a desirable form of knowledge dissemination, scientific communication and social valorisation? How sustainable are such initiatives?

The salon takes place on Thursday 14 March between 3:00-5:00pm, eLab Mediastudies (BG1 room 0,16) Turfdraagsterpad 9, 1012 XT Amsterdam, followed by drinks at Kapitein Zeppos. The program starts with the presentations of three cases of scholars providing historical data for reuse. These cases will be responded to by a panel of specialists in digital communication strategies.

Roel Vande Winkel is associate professor of film and television studies at the KU Leuven (Institute for Media Studies) and at the LUCA School of Arts. For many years, he has been working in Belgian and German archives and libraries to research film distribution and exhibition in German-occupied Belgium (1940-1944).The “Cinema in Occupied Belgium” website, which will go online in 2020, is inspired by “Cinema Context” and will make his data available to the wider public.

Thomas Crombezis a lecturer at the Kon. Academie voor Schone Kunsten (Antwerp) and at Sint Lucas Antwerpen. He teaches philosophy of art and history of graphic design. In his research he focuses on digital text collections and data visualization. In 2016 he founded the publishing house and design studio Letterwerk (www.letterwerk.be).

Richard ten Barge is studying Algemene Cultuurwetenschappen (Cultural Studies) at the Open University Netherlands, currently completing an internship at CREATE (UvA). He completed a study Information & Communication Technology in Eindhoven. Since 1993 he owns ZmpX Internet Solutions, a company building database driven websites.

Lodewijk Petram is a Senior research data manager at the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands (Huygens ING). He is involved in various projects in which large, heterogeneous datasets are made available online: the modernization of the Huygens ‘resources’ (an online collection of historical sources, see http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/ for the current, outdated, version), the nascent Network Maritime Sources (which aims to bring together historical sources, research data and museum collections), and CLARIAH.

Marcus Cohen has worked as an advisor at DEN since November 2016. In collaboration with Europeana, Marcus researches the social and economic impact of (digital) cultural heritage. He is trained as an engineer (TU-Delft) and has been involved in the development of an open data platform for the (performing) arts.

Dirk Bertels is in charge of the Interaction Department of Studio Louter. As Creative Partner, Dirk is responsible for concept development, storylines, and oversees all software and multimedia production and interaction design.

Cas Spoelstra(Studio Louter) studied Interaction Design at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem. As a software developer, he focuses mainly on deciphering complex systems and translating them into transparent constructions.

Bert van Loon grew up in the publishing industry where heI held positions in sales, marketing and business development, often in international alliances across Europe. For the past 20 years, he has acted as independent strategist, helping a wide variety of organizations to find new directions in a world in digital transition. Along a diversified set of projects from different clients, he also participated as an entrepreneur in various publishing and media initiatives.